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Personal space is a really hard lesson and strategy for many students. If you have students in your classroom or on your caseload who struggle with boundaries, you likely also see a struggle in understanding and providing personal space. While this seems like something children might need to just grow into, explicit instruction can also help.
Social scripts
Social scripts are some of my favorite proactive strategies to support students. There is a lot of hard evidence that social scripts support autistic individuals, and tons of anecdotal evidence that they support kids of even broader ranges. I like to use social scripts as proactively as possible.
If you have a student that tends to struggle with personal space, reading a social script on this topic before a time when boundaries are especially important, like before PE or recess, might be helpful.
There is a social script using real photos included in the exclusive content section of the Social Script Library. This particular script gives basic strategies for providing personal space and explains to children why it’s important.
Read alouds
As per usual… I’ve got a book for this!! I love the book Personal Space Camp by Julia Cook. This is the perfect book for teaching students what it means to have personal space, and how to give it to others. This book is super relatable and funny, making it an approachable way to tackle an often uncomfortable topic. It also offers many strategies that Louis, the main character, is taught to help him best understand personal space.
Related activities can help stretch the lesson from a read aloud so children can get more benefit from the lessons provided. The activities in this companion pack connect to common core, so students can be analyzing characters, plot, etc. while continuing to discuss the important themes and strategies the book offers.
Teacher language
As we already know, teacher/adult language is incredibly powerful. We want to empower children and not shame them! I love the book The Power of Our Words by Paula Denton. It’s so actionable and provides so many great lines to use to offer helpful reminding language. This is one of those books I always have on standby.
Not abiding by personal boundaries can lead to some other challenging behaviors in the classroom. Don’t forget that developmentally, some students really respond and need that explicit instruction (including providing strategies) in order to find success.
